Succulents and More™

In my post about the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo , I committed a cardinal sin: I didn’t show my plant haul. Let’s remedy that immediately. I didn’t get a lot because a) I don’t really need more plants (how often have I said that?), and b) little else jumped out at me. Agave utahensis (especially var. eborispina ) is one of my favorite agaves. I found the motherlode on the table of Bay Area grower Mary Parisi: Four beautiful Agave utahensis (three var. eborispina , one var. utahensis ) at a price too good to pass up Priced at $22.50, I couldn’t resist even though I already have about a dozen Agave utahensis The remaining three plants I bought came from the table of San Diego County nursery Botanic Wonders (Al Klein and Anthony Neubauer). They have a well-deserved reputation for impeccably grown plants. Hamatocactus hamatacanthus (left) and yellow-spined form of Ferocactus latispinus (right) Deuterocohnia brevifolia , a mat-forming terrestrial bromeliad from Argentina and Boliv...

Last weekend was the 2026 San Francisco Succulent Expo hosted by the San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society (SFSCS). Below is a quick recap. My main reason for going was to volunteer and to help friends who were vendors, so I didn’t take as many photos as I otherwise might have. I also didn’t have my “good” camera with me, just my phone. Held at the San Francisco County Fair Building next to the San Francisco Botanical Garden , the San Francisco Succulent Expo is the largest event of its kind in Northern California. 30+ plant and pottery vendors filled the large main gallery. Here are just a few photos to give you an idea of what it was like: The most expensive plant I saw was this impressive Dioscorea hemicrypta , yours for $2000. That may seem shockingly expensive, but bear in mind this specimen is decades old. Somebody had to take care of it all this time. (Coincidentally, another Dioscorea hemicrypta by Nick Wilkinson of Grow Nursery won Best in Show.) Dioscorea hemicrypta I...

Yucca ‘Bright Star’ is one of those plants that stop you in your tracks the first time you see them. It’s just that beautiful. I had one from 2017 to 2023 and have been looking for another one ever since. My original ‘Bright Star’ came from my friend Hoover Boo ( Piece of Eden ) in Southern California. After seeing hers ( here ), I knew I needed to have one. Fortunately, she had a source and was able to get me a 2-gallon plant. It bloomed for the first time in November 2022, producing a glorious display of bell-shaped flowers. November 2022 Yuccas are polycarpic, meaning they don’t die after flowering like most agaves do. Technically, I could have enjoyed this stunning spectacle every year from then on. Unfortunately, my ‘Bright Star’ split into multiple heads after flowering, ruining the beautiful symmetry of a single rosette. It got even worse when I noticed suckers popping up around the mother plant: I had visions of a messy clump — most definitely not the look I wanted. I knew I w...